sky graffiti
by plasmacandy
Summary: ace x baron, something like an AU—and they aren't dates. we just go to earth, occasionally, together, and sometimes get ice cream. but really, it's completely platonic.
1. who said

||**sky graffiti.**

**two boys. one unsupervised portal. an unsuspecting planet. what could go wrong? ****ace&baronAU**

—**and they aren't **_**dates**_**. we just go to Earth, occasionally, together, and sometimes get ice cream. but really, it's completely platonic.**

x•x•

There is a boy who dreams of Earth and solar storms and sunny-starry-swirls that light up mirrors on lakes. He dreams of a tilted axis and sugar clouds and melty horizons, of spider-spun flowers and dimensions inside cocoons and seashells. Most of all he dreams of utopia, a planet encompassed by serenity and seventy-seven world wonders.

There is another boy, a friend (or something resembling one, anyway), who shoulders the karma-assigned task of reminding the blue-eyed hopeful that the pictures painted of a dust-sparkled Earth are the equivalent of ascribed acid trips.

At regular intervals.

Intervals like one in an otherwise routine afternoon under metallic lighting, when the latest broadcasted monster-fighting tournament should be the only sound in the sulky conscience's small apartment.

Baron tilts his head, reconsidering his lavender viewframe as he absentmindedly watches clawed behemoths wrestle on-screen. "So what you're saying is**—"**

"Earth isn't like that, you moron." Ace flicks hair out of his eyes, glaring up in frustration. "It's just an ugly mudball covered in layers of pollution thanks to an entirely moronic population. There's none of that magical crap that those crazy old men talk about."

"But**—"**

"But what? I've told you a thousand times, those guys are nothing but has-been travelers that have to make up stories about their little 'expeditions' to feel meaningful to society. Not that anyone with half a brain takes their ramblings seriously." He squints at Baron pointedly.

"But they've still _been_ to Earth, like, actually _been _there," Baron pauses in wonderment, "And you'venever traveled outside of the planet, have you, Ace?"

Ace flinches. "Well**— **I've heard about Earth from more reliable sources, alright?"

"Mira?" Baron realizes belatedly that he's broken the unspoken rule of never mentioning Ace's ex by name when gray eyes flash silver in irritation.

"Not just _her_," Ace says darkly, "her brother has gone there for research**—"**

"Her brother with the split personality, you mean?"

"_Look_," the taller boy straightens intimidatingly, "those dinosaurs act like they know what they're talking about, but they don't, okay? You think a bunch of senile idiots know better than I do?"

Baron shifted on the sofa awkwardly. "W-well, I mean, information about Earth is classified, so the only way I can know for sure what it's like is to hear about it from someone who's traveled there…"

"No."

"No?"

"No, we are not sneaking into my boss' private lab so we can hijack his portal and transport ourselves to Earth."

"…Wow, Ace, that's a great idea! Can we go tonight?"

"No!"

Baron sighs pitifully. "Well, I guess it would make Mira _really_ upset if we used her dad's portal to travel to Earth, so it's probably for the best**—"**

"I changed my mind." Ace stood. "We're going."

Turning his head to hide an entirely-too-devious sparkle in his eyes, Baron smiled.


	2. that guy

**||sky graffiti**

**because fashionable entrances aren't their thing. ace&baron AU.**

**— pressurized colors are liable to burst.**

**x•x•**

Dimension travel is like layered sunsets, transcribed behind your closed eyelids like symbols after staring at screens too long. Colors upon colors upon colors, sands sifting in hourglasses and bubblegum lava; a montage of fantastical contradictions that make perfect sense to creatures of worlds far away.

And to Baron.

"Okay, okay, _stop_ for a minute." Ace snaps, grabbing the shorter boy's forearm with a characteristic scowl. "We can't jump into the portal just like that."

Baron kind of looks like he wants to say 'why not,' but settles for an inquisitive blink.

And Ace doesn't even wonder about how easily they understand each other without words. "We—_you _don't know anything about Earth."

"Right! Which is why we're going! …That is why we're going, isn't it?"

"You have to have some knowledge about what you're getting into. You're definitely the type to get culture shock."

"What's culture shock?"

"Exactly."

Baron smiles sweetly, his foolproof method for getting out of trouble. "As long as you're with me, I'll be fine."

"Right. That doesn't work on me."

Baron's smile doesn't fade. "What doesn't work on you?"

"Just get over here," He snaps and, grip on Baron's arm still intact, pulls the boy over to the main controls system.

It was a little anticlimactic, Baron thought with a pout, when his free hand (did he even notice he was still holding on to him?) bypassed the pretty, colorful buttons and instead opened a drawer, only to retrieve…a book.

"This has pictures," Ace announced, "meaning that it should hold your attention for more than two seconds. It's currently the most up-to-date and in-depth information on Earth in all of Vestal." He handed Baron the book and, noticing their conjoined limbs, coughed and dropped Baron's arm abruptly.

Baron's eyes took on a sparkle as he flipped through the glossed pages; even though he couldn't read the words, the pictures were _pretty_. "Hey, Ace," he said conversationally, pointing to a emboldened title next to a building with a neon sign, "What's this say?"

"…Top twenty places to go drinking."

"Whoa, humans have special places to drink? Like how animals go to watering holes?"

"They're called bars," Ace rolls his eyes, acting long-suffering. "Apparently they're like restaurants, except they procure alcohol and are less formal."

"Ooh," Baron replies, pretending he knows what 'alcohol' is, "What kind of book is this, anyway?"

"A guidebook, I think they call it."

Baron breaths the name in reverence, holding the book out under the fluorescent lighting. "The _Guidebook_. It sounds so…so…official!"

"Yeah, whatever, just hurry up and study all the pictures so we can**—"**

The noise of a voice outside the control room's doors, muffled by the near-soundproof walls, stops him abruptly. "Now where did I put that keycard…did I leave it in my other pants again?"

"Professor Cla**—" **Baron manages to squeak, before Ace claps a hand over his mouth.

"Damn!" He hisses, eyes darting about it panic. His gaze falls to a lever**—**_the _lever.

Without a second thought, he pulls it.

The blinding swirls of light in the teleport chamber elicit another gasp from Baron, but they don't have time for reassurances. The Guidebook still clutched in the younger boy's grip, Ace takes him by the free hand.

They jump.


End file.
